Hannover 2010 – scientific programme

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Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik

Q 45: Ultra Cold Atoms, Ions and BEC III (with A)

Q 45.5: Talk

Thursday, March 11, 2010, 11:30–11:45, F 303

Nonlinear atom interferometer beats classical precision limit — •Eike Nicklas, Christian Gross, Tilman Zibold, Jérôme Estève, and Markus K Oberthaler — Kirchhoff Institute for Physics, University of Heidelberg, Germany

The phase detection precision of classical linear atom interferometers is limited by the standard quantum limit. We report on the realization of a nonlinear atom interferometer based on two hyperfine states of Bose-Einstein condensed Rubidium. The nonlinearity is provided by elastic s-wave collisions and we implemented precision control of the scattering length by employing a narrow Feshbach resonance. In a prototypal measurement with a macroscopic number of atoms we find a precision enhancement of 15% over the standard quantum limit. Within the interferometer a large entangled state with 170 entangled atoms is detected.